Warning! Spoilers ahead for Darkhold Alpha!
One of Doctor Doom’s biggest flaws is his hubris; he sees himself above everyone around him, be they Reed Richards or Storm, and now Doom’s pride is going to destroy the Marvel Universe. In Darkhold Alpha, on sale now in print and digital, the Latverian dictator brings the sinister Darkhold to his home reality, unleashing its evil on an unsuspecting world.
Doctor Doom is not only one of Marvel’s best villains, he is one of the best in comics period. As skilled in magic as he is in science, Doctor Doom rules over the European nation of Latveria with a literal iron fist. Doom’s plans of conquest and terror have brought him into conflict with just about every hero in the Marvel Universe, ranging from the Fantastic Four to Spider-Man to Luke Cage. Doom’s recent scheme involves the Darkhold, an ancient book of evil spells written by the god Chthon. Whoever reads from the book gains its powers but is also driven insane, and Doom seeks it for himself. He implements a workaround to avoid insanity, but his pride blinds him to a flaw in his plan—and now Earth may pay the price. Darhold Alpha is written by Steve Orlando, with art by Cian Tormey, colors by Jesus Aburtov and letters by Clayton Cowles.
As mentioned earlier, reading from the Darkhold gives the user access to its power, but drives them mad. When an expedition discovers the book buried deep in the Earth, Doom dispatches a Doombot to retrieve it. The Doombot “reads” the book, and Doom watches while it reads. Doom’s logic is that by reading it through a non-living Doombot, he will be spared from being driven insane. It works, but now Chthon has a direct link to Earth, and the Scarlet Witch must bring together a rag-tag team of heroes to stop it.
![Doctor Doom is Killing Marvel’s Universe, Just How Fans Expected](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Doctor-Doom-Scarlet-Witch-Darkhold.jpg)
Over the years, Doctor Doom’s desire for control has led him to take on beings as powerful as Galactus—and almost succeed, but with Chthon and the Darkhold, he may have bitten off more than he can chew. Doctor Doom’s plan to gain the Darkhold’s powers by reading through a Doombot is undeniably clever, but if one of his plan’s goals was to avoid a confrontation with Chthon, then it failed miserably. Doctor Doom’s hubris would never let him think of such a consequence; in his mind, he is above everyone else, and thus his plans are foolproof. Chthon is much older than Doom, and more experienced with magic, but Doom’s pride does not let him take this into account.
Doctor Doom never owns up to his mistakes, so when the threat of Chthon and the Darkhold passes, it will be as if nothing happened and Doctor Doom will continue onwards, looking for the next scheme. Doctor Doom has come close to being the Sorcerer Supreme on several occasions, and has defeated cosmic beings—his arrogance and pride are arguably justified, but now his hubris in Darkhold Alpha may end up destroying the Marvel Universe.